When José “Pepín” García left Cuba for America, he is said to have promised his family that he would succeed.

That’s the inspiration for the latest line from the García family’s My Father Cigars, Inc., aptly called La Promesa. Pepín would go onto start El Rey de los Habanos and later My Father, both with his children Jaime and Janny by his side. In addition to the family’s brands, their factories would make cigars for Ashton, Tatuaje, Miami Cigar & Co. and others.

La Promesa is a five-size line that uses an Ecuadorian habano oscuro wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers.

  • My Father La Promesa Petite (4 1/2 x 50) — $7.80 (Box of 20, $156)
  • My Father La Promesa Corona Gorda (5 1/2 x 48) — $8.20 (Box of 20, $164)
  • My Father La Promesa Robusto Grande (5 1/2 x 54) — $8.50 (Box of 20, $170)
  • My Father La Promesa Toro (6 x 52) — $9.20 (Box of 20, $184)
  • My Father La Promesa Lancero (7 1/2 x 38) — $10 (Box of 20, $200)

  • Cigar Reviewed: My Father La Promesa Lancero
  • Country of Origin: Nicaragua
  • Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
  • Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano Oscuro)
  • Binder: Nicaragua
  • Filler: Nicaragua
  • Length: 7 1/2 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 38
  • Vitola: Lancero
  • MSRP: $10 (Box of 20, $200)
  • Release Date: July 2019
  • Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
  • Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The La Promesa Lancero is definitely lighter in color than the My Father No. 4. While I certainly have noticed a variance in the wrapper shade of the regular My Father over the years, it seems like the No. 4 size is generally pretty consistent. For those wondering, the La Promesa reminds me of the color of a Snickers bar, particularly in the level of glossiness. Aroma from the wrapper has lots of barnyard on top of some dark chocolate, a bit of sweetness and a leather aroma that reminds me of one of the couches that I own, right around medium-full. The foot is both sweeter and stronger with chocolate, barnyard, and pepper, as well as this aroma that reminds me of a lot of Nicaraguan tobaccos of the early 2010s, somewhat chocolatey, but also with pepper and some additional irritation; the combination of all these lands at medium-full. The cold draw has some more of that flavor along with the smell of wet grass; it too is right around medium-full and the airflow is exactly what I would want from a lancero.

The flavor profile begins with nuttiness, some super sweet pink lemonade, sourdough bread and a very restrained amount of red pepper. The first third has creaminess, earthiness and some of that bread flavor, but the creaminess is the most dominant part of the La Promesa Lancero. Retrohales have a more generic bread flavor along with some strawberry sweetness and some pistachios towards the finish. Flavor is medium-full to full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium-plus. Construction is excellent across all three cigars.

The second third of the My Father La Promesa Lancero has a very watered down hot chocolate flavor over some peanuts. I’m a bit surprised to see both the sourdough bread and creaminess leave the mouth as they were relatively pervasive through the first third. Retrohales have a big sunflower seed flavor over creaminess, lemon, leather, orange bitters and a faint white pepper. While that sounds like a lot of flavors, it’s largely about the sunflower seeds and everything is sort of just one big procession of secondary flavors. The orange bitters do stick around through the finish, which is helpful in cutting through the pistachios. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium. Construction remains very good through the second third, with an excellent draw, burn and smoke production.

Bread returns to dominate the final third of the My Father La Promesa Lancero. It’s lost some of the sourdough characteristics that it once had and is now more of a mixture of bread flavors on top of some milder coffee flavors. Retrohales shift from being led by sunflower seeds to being pistachio forward with lots more creaminess, sort of like a vanilla shake. The finish is super creamy with a bit of grass and some nutmeg underneath. Flavor is medium-full while body and strength are medium-plus. The draw tightens just bit, which is fine except that the smoke production trails off quite a bit. I end up making some touch-ups, though I don’t think they would be required, more just preventative care of the cigar.

Final Notes

  • If someone provided the tobaccos, i.e. the blend was going to be the same, but I got to pick a factory to make lanceros for a cigar brand, it would be My Father Cigars S.A. In my years of smoking just about every lancero on the market, I don’t think there is a factory that has excelled as consistently as My Father. No factory, not even My Father is perfect, which is what has made the few disappointments even more disappointing, but the La Promesa is another in a long list of lanceros that have been rolled well at a factory owned by the Garcías.
  • Given the darker wrapper and the smells coming from the cigar prior to being lit, I think many people will find this cigar to be less powerful nicotine-wise than expected.
  • I definitely think this cigar is going to change a year from now, I’ve already got one saved to see what that’s like. If I’m forecasting, the dominant flavors that take over the second and final thirds are likely to change in some way. It’s a feeling, maybe an educated guess, but I’ll test the theory this time next year.
  • I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on what’s happening in the cigar industry, but the My Father Cigars, Inc. portfolio has gotten to be a bit out of hand. I bought the wrong cigars—La Gran Oferta—originally for this review.
  • For those wondering, I much prefer the La Promesa to the La Gran Oferta.
  • Credit to My Father for using the proper, or close to it, lancero size: 7 1/2 x 38. Technically, the Cuban size is 192mm, which is just over 7 1/2 x 38, but I always appreciate when the vitola doesn’t end up as a 7 x 40.
  • For those who are unfamiliar, at TheCigarFeed, my blog before halfwheel, I once reviewed 50 lanceros in 50 days.
  • My Father’s packaging, while a bit gaudy at times, remains some of the best in the business in terms of execution. I really like the shade of teal used for the La Promesa text.
  • My favorite My Father-made lancero is the original Serie JJ. The El Centurion Lancero is also one of the better lanceros I’ve ever smoked.
  • Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
  • Final smoking time was two hours and 20 minutes on average.
  • Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Famous Smoke Shop and JR Cigar carry the My Father La Promesa Lancero.

 

91 Overall Score

The My Father La Promesa Lancero is the best new lancero I’ve smoked this year, though, it’s also the only new lancero I can recall smoking this year. That aside, I can tell you that I think it’s a worthy addition to the large family of My Father cigars on the market. Compared to the My Father No. 4, the La Promesa has fewer flavors and is oftentimes just dominated by a single one of those flavors. However, while it may be less complex, in many ways it is the more flavorful of those two cigars. Regardless, it’s one of the better lanceros you will find for the $10 or under price point.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.